Collingwood midfielder Dayne Beams stepped away from footy indefinitely in early December to deal with his mental health.
The 29-year-old has constantly dealt with mental health issues over the last few years and said in a club statement that “my health and football have come to feel like competing priorities”.
A few weeks later, Beams believes he is starting to make some good progress.
“I’m going pretty well,” he told SEN Afternoons.
“I’ve found a bit of purpose with my art. I’ve decided to create a website for it and all the stuff I was doing was just stacking up in my son’s room so we had to get rid of it somehow.
“We thought we’d team up with a mental health organisation and we’ll sell some pieces and I’ll donate a percentage of those to the Love Me Love You foundation who support mental health and do a wonderful job in that space.
“That’s been going really well for me and I said, it’s given me a purpose outside of footy and it has been really good for my head and it’s something I find really therapeutic. It has been really good for me.”
Beams has played 177 career games for the Pies and Lions and managed only nine in 2019, dealing with ongoing injuries as well as his mental health.